Plant of the Week: Lo & Behold 'Ice Chip' Buddleia

We were with our friends from Prides Corner Farms earlier this summer and gave them some grief about the horrible winter they had been through. Hey, it's not often that folks in West Michigan get to watch winter storms on the news and think, "Wow, they're getting it worse than us!"

To celebrate this happy day I bring you a much nicer bit of summer iciness: Lo & Behold® 'Ice Chip' Buddleia (butterfly bush). It's a little plant - just 18-24" inches tall - and flowers earlier than some of the other Lo & Behold® varieties. Sometimes white flowers don't get a lot of love, but I think 'Ice Chip' is a great choice for pairing with brightly colored annuals or the dark foliage of a plant like Spilled Wine® Weigela.

The Lo & Behold® butterfly bushes are wonderful little plants that bring color and fragrance to summer gardens without littering the landscape with unwanted seedlings. They will bloom from midsummer to frost without deadheading. What's really fun about them is that they challenge us to think about Buddleia in a whole new way. Most of us are used to thinking of butterfly bush as a really big, kind of awkward plant to be stashed in the back of a mixed border. You want the fragrance and the butterflies, but the plant itself was often not much to look at.

These plants are different - cute little mounds of blooms that stay tidy and totally deserve placement at the front of the border. Unlike older varieties, they make a great mass planting. Face it, no one needs a mass planting of 'Pink Delight'.

We do recommend that they be planted as early in the season as possible in northern climates so they have time to establish before winter. Also, pay extra attention to the soil: it really needs to be well-drained. Putting it where the plow truck is going to drop a ton of heavy Boston snow in winter isn't a good idea, either.

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Proven Winners ColorChoice

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With the continuous evolution of technology, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends, but I’m here to help!

As the public relations and media contact for Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Shrubs, it’s my goal to make things as easy as possible for you by providing tips, resources, story ideas, and of course plant photos.

Please contact me with questions, photo requests, story ideas, or even just to chat!

Natalie Carmolli

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Need help with a story? Have a question? Just want to say hello? Email me at natalie {at} springmeadownursery {dot} com.